, 1887-06-16

1ne eARLY nAwAIIAns.
Gladiatoriai sports-TraveIing Convey
nnccs-The Savage Can Can.

Gladiatorial sports-FraveIing Convey
ances-The Savage Can Can.
Away back in what~may be termed the
prehistoric times of the Islands Kane
hameha l was the great chieftain, the
Napoleon of the islands. He rose from
the position of a Common fighting man
in the ranks to b. the head chief. and
afterward, by conquest. king OF the en-
tire group, which he consolidated under
n government, with himself at the
head. Personal proves was the critic
rion of greatness. The Hawaiiaus fought
with spear, club and sling. Kamehameha
was in an extraordinary degree dexter
Gus with the spear. With it he could
ward oil six spears or ~javelins thrown at
him simultaneously. Instances of great
muscular strength and activity were not
among the native islanders.
They a famous boxers, and part of
their games consisted in gladiatorial con
tests-boxing and wrestling. The favor
lite blow of the boxer was q quick, sharp
hit with the fist, which broke the upper
arm of his antagonist, and the contest
frequently ended by the victor Selling
the body of the v%anquished and, with a
wrench across his knee, breaking the
spinal column. OF course that would be
Iue NlCJlm 5 llSU Dattle.
Communication between remote parts
of an island was by trained me and
as there was no kind of writing what
over. either hieroglyphic or symbolic,
messages were delivered verbally, 70
that the couriers had to have good mem
Dries as well as light and active limbs.
Tho calling of the courier was hereditary,
descending from generation to genera
f1On nathan aI1-, H. -
public were trained porters or carriers,
who carried articles or persons on their
shoulders from place to place. The
chiefs always travelled by these convey
ances. AS a rule the chiefs were heavy
and lazy men. 1t is related of one that
his delight was in making his porter
scale almost impossible activities with
him on his shoulders. One time the Dor
ter, staggering under the weight of his
royal burden, went over the brink of q
precipice and the king and his carrier
were both killed. Communication be-
tween h islands was by frail canoes.
but the Hawaiians were SO dexterous in
their management and SO fearless that
they frequently made long and tenn
pestuous voyages, rarely meeting with
a fatal accident. More than this, thew
were nearer being %amphibious than any
other known members of the human
race.
MIR. Clarke has himself timed them
when they have been recovering goods
from the bottom of the bay, in there faith
oms of water, and has seen them remain
n IL water at work four minutes and
l1teen seconds, then ascending to the sur
lace, catch a single breath, go down again
anu finish the work, which required three
minutes and n half longer, and on coming
up they would swim away to the raft as
II they had a no exertion whatever.
one oil their favorite amusements is riding
h surf. For this they use q surf board
1--we or SIX feet long, and they curvette
ike seals among the breakers. Although
they have no snow or the islands they
nave sleds, and tobogganing on the steep
activities covered with slippery pele grass
was another popular pastime among the
aboriglnes. Their sled was made of two
poles OF hard wood, very smooth, curved
up q little at the ends, and bound with
bark thongs to a kind of seat, making a
narrow sled. With these they shot down
the long grass covered slopes a thousand
feet or more with fearful velocity. This
amusement was INDUCED in by the higher
classes mainly. Another amusement
was rolling the Maka-hiki stone, which
was a fiat circular disk, made of some
hard stone, usually basaltic lava.
smoothed off and finely polised. The
game consisted in seeing who could roll
he stone the greatest distance.
The natives seldom wagered ANYTHING
worth mentioning in their games. Gam
bling was not a besetting sin with them.
They had a very complicated game of
checkers, and the young people played.
marbles with a round bean that grows on
the island, though they know nothing
about flying kites. Their principal dance
was h hula-nuu and the simple hula,
which is the Hawaiian word for dancing.
The hula-nuu was and still is tho
Hawaiian word for can can. The mis-
sionaries endeavored to abolish these
dances, but failed. The Hawaiians are
natural dancers; they must and viii
dance, even if they have to dance the
hula-nuu. The laws of the aboriginal
ISLANDERS were based on a traditional the.
ocracy, and were transmitted from gem
Grafton to generation by word of mouth
and through persons who were taken
when quite young and thoroughly edu-
Gated in them. They had a high order of
kniShthood, which has been revived
under the name Of the Order of Oceaniea.
An origin as old or older than that of
Freemasonry is claimed for it. The mem
bers must be native Hawaiians, although
an honorary membership has been con
ferred upon one or two Americans